Market LIVE: Sensex jumps 250 pts, Nifty above 17,500; BHEL, NTPC top gainers

Stock Market LIVE Updates: Indian shares kicked off the new financial year on a quiet note on Friday, with gains in power company stocks helping marginally offset a sharp fall in two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp

Indian indices witnessed a flat start on Friday amid weak global cues. The start to the week saw investors betting on hopes of de-escalation in the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, the optimism evaporated after Russian President Putin threatened on Thursday to cut off Europe's gas supply if payments were not made in roubles. Kremlin's continuous attack on Ukraine had already derailed any hopes as most global indices fell on Thursday. The Wall Street slumped to its biggest quarterly decline in two years on Thursday amid fears of rising inflation and US Fed's response to curb it. The fall in the US markets is likely to weigh on Indian indices and the bourses could see some volatility on Friday. In Asia, shares in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Shanghai declined, while that in Australia advanced in early trade on Friday. 

GAIL share buyback can provide 10-20% return for short term investors: Analyst

Shares of GAIL surged nearly 2% to ₹158 apiece on the BSE in Friday's early deals. GAIL (India) Ltd on Thursday said it will buyback about 5.7 crore shares for ₹1,083 crore as it looks to use its healthy balance sheet to reward shareholders for the second time in as many years.

Sebi halts NFOs in mutual funds as industry scrambles to comply with circulars

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has stopped the mutual fund industry from issuing new fund offers (NFOs) for now, as the regulator provides time to the industry to comply with its new norms.

Adani Wilmar share price climbs to all-time high, rises for 6th straight session

Adani Wilmar Share price has continued it bull run in early morning deals today. This Adani group stock has climbed to its new peak for 6th straight session and hit new high of ₹542.70 apiece on NSE. Adani Wilmar Share price today opened with an upside gap of around ₹9 per share on NSE and went on to hit its new life-time high.

Stock market: Settlement holiday today. What investors should know?

April 1, 2022, is a settlement holiday on account of Annual Bank Closing. A settlement holiday is a day when trading is possible, but clearing and settlement are closed for Paying and Payout of stocks and funds.

March auto volumes preview: Rising fuel prices to weigh on demand

Increase in petrol and diesel prices is likely to have a bearing on automobile demand which would reflect in March auto volumes set to be announced today. The commercial vehicle (CV) segment, which is currently seeing a cyclical recovery, is not immune to that.

Gold eases ahead of US jobs data as dollar ticks higher

Gold prices eased on Friday, widening their weekly losses as a stronger dollar outweighed safe-haven demand fuelled by a lack of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, while investors awaited March U.S. jobs data for policy tightening clues.

Oil seesaws ahead of consumer nations' meeting on stocks release

Oil prices seesawed on Friday ahead of a meeting of consuming nations to discuss a new release of emergency oil reserves alongside a huge planned release by the United States.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dipped 6 cents to $100.22 a barrel at 0057 GMT after trading as high as $101.75. The contract slumped 7% on Thursday.

Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to $104.76 a barrel, after dropping 5.6% on Thursday. The May contract expired on Thursday at $107.91.

The planned U.S. release caused Thursday's falls. On Friday the two benchmark contracts were each headed for a weekly loss of around 13%, their biggest in two years.

International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries are set to meet at 1200 GMT on Friday to discuss a further emergency oil release that would follow their March 1 agreement to release around 60 million barrels.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a release of 1 million barrels per day for six months starting in May. That will be the largest release ever from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

Asian shares slip on gloomy outlook as Ukraine, recession risks weigh

Asian shares fell on Friday following the biggest quarterly drop in global equities in two years, as investors worried about the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war and rising risks of recession.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin struck back at Western sanctions on Moscow, threatening to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in roubles. The move prompted Germany, the most reliant on Russian gas, to accuse him of "blackmail" as it activated an emergency plan that could lead to rationing.

Reflecting the gloomy mood as a result of supply disruptions and surging raw material costs, Japanese business confidence hit a nine-month low in the first quarter according to a Bank of Japan survey, with companies indicating they expect conditions to worsen further.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 0.75% in morning trade, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.70% lower.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 1.1%, while Seoul's Kospi lost about 0.6%. Chinese blue-chips turned around from a lower open to rise 0.7%.

US, European stocks suffer worst quarter since pandemic

Global stocks dropped on Thursday with U.S. shares sinking over 1.5%, as concerns about a recession and the Russian-Ukranian war spurred selling, while oil prices plunged over $6 as Washington launched a record release from its emergency oil reserves.

The declines pushed U.S. and European stocks into their biggest quarterly loss since the start of 2020, when the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic sent the global economy into a tailspin.

Quarter-end portfolio rebalancing boosted demand for bonds and held down yields, though a closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve hovered near inversion, after inverting briefly on Tuesday. Many view an inverted yield curve, in which short-term Treasuries yield more than longer-term debt, as a harbinger of a recession.

A spurt of selling late in the day drove the S&P 500 down 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also skidded 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.5%. Europe's STOXX 600 had closed down 0.94%.

Thursday's stock market gloom was emblematic of how tough March has been for equities. Even after a rally in the past week when investors celebrated signs of progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, the S&P 500 is still down 5% in the first three months, its worst quarterly performance in 2 years.

Europe's STOXX 600 fared worse, losing 6.5% in the first quarter, also its biggest quarterly drop since the start of 2020.

The MSCI World Equity index, which dropped 1.3% on Thursday, also had its worst quarter in two years, tumbling 5.7%.

Oil prices sink as US taps reserves; equities fall

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday after the United States announced it would release a record amount of oil from its stockpiles to fight soaring gas prices sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden described the giant release that will see a million barrels of US government oil hit the market every day for six months as a "wartime" measure that will defuse Russia's leverage as an energy power.

West Texas Intermediate dropped seven percent and almost dipped below $100 a barrel after the move, while Brent lost nearly five percent, though analysts did not expect the supply release to stabilize the oil market.

Tokyo stocks open lower after US falls

Tokyo stocks opened lower on Thursday, tracking falls on Wall Street as concerns grow over inflation and oil prices surge.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 1.27 percent or 355.28 points at 27,684.88 in early trade, while the broader Topix index dropped 1.01 percent or 20.01 points to 1,958.69.

The dollar fetched 121.17 yen in early Asian trade, against 121.12 yen in New York late Wednesday.

The Nikkei is likely to start with a selling spree "on fears of accelerating inflation, taking cues from Wall Street falls last night," Okasan Online Securities said.

Reports that the United States is looking to further ramp up sanctions against Russia also weighed on market sentiment.

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